Love in Amsterdam: Van De Valk, Book 1

Alluring, unstable, and frantically self-absorbed, Elsa de Charmoy was a dangerous woman, and now she's a dead one, shot with a gun bought by her former lover. Sulking in an Amsterdam jail, he swears it's been years since he saw Elsa, but Inspector Van der Valk isn't quite ready to be persuaded. Like Inspector Maigret (to whom he is often compared), Van der Valk tends to pick apart the details, ideally over a good meal. And while Van der Valk's ruminations may frustrate his more action-minded colleagues, they inevitably yield a surprising resolution.

Publisher's Summary

Van der Valk is on the case again as a mysterious letter is unearthed alluding to the murder of a man named Cabestan. In the letter, the murderer is named but van der Valk must find out first who this mysterious letter-writer is. What transpires is a tale of deception and adultery as the rich Carl Merckel, the managing director of the Lutz Brothers merchant bank, lays an accusation of cold blooded homicide of which, he claims, his wife had no part to play.

A true master of popular crime fiction and creator of the ever-popular Inspector van der Valk and Henri Castang, Nicolas Freeling has written more than 30 books and has an innate empathy with France and its culture. Born in London in 1927, Freeling has lived much of his life in Europe, notably the Vosges hills and Strasbourg. An astute, gritty writer of European flavour, his novels reflect all that is great about crime fiction.

Nicolas Freeling's The King of the Rainy Country received a 1967 Edgar Award, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Best Novel. He also won the Gold Dagger of the Crime Writer's Association, and France's Grand Prix de Littérature Policière. In 1968 his novel Love in Amsterdam was adapted as the film Amsterdam Affair directed by Gerry O'Hara and starring Wolfgang Kieling as van der Valk.